Wet Seal
is elevating its mobile messaging strategy with rich media, including images, video
and social links, to meet the increasingly sophisticated mobile needs of its
target audience.

With a predominantly
young female customer who actively embraces mobile for staying in touch with
friends, the latest trends and their favorite brands, retail chain Wet Seal
recognized a need to evolve beyond its previous text-based SMS strategy. The
new Rich Media Messaging program is being provided in partnership with Iris
Mobile, which has seen similar programs for other clients double response
rates.

“Their
audience is predominantly younger women,” said Shalini Gupta, director of
client services at Iris Mobile. “We know that that particular demographic is
very actively texting their friends and actively texting signing up for various
programs.

“They did
have a straight SMS program before but they chose to work with Iris Mobile
because of our Rich Media Messaging capabilities,” she said. “What this is
allowing them to do is send very engaging messages with images and video and
social sharing links, where they are sharing that content directly on their
social feed to really given that audience a more compelling experience.

“So instead
of getting just a 160-character text message, all of a sudden you are getting
pictures of the products, you are getting some witty comments around the
images. It makes for a much better experience.”

Crazy
ex-boyfriendRich
Media Messaging is a patented messaging technology that delivers rich content
such as image, audio and video which has been optimized by device.

Wet Seal switched
from its SMS vendor to Iris Mobile for the new program so it needed to send a
message to customers who had previously opted-in to receive messages from the
brand to make them aware that the next text would come from a new short code.

Wet Seal
tackled the transition with a witty message that read: “Crazy ex-boyfriend. We
had to get a new number. Save our new digits 35750.”

The
message also informed recipients that an offer of 40 percent off online had
been extended and provided a promo code for redemption.

The
transitional message is an example of how Wet Seal uses mobile messaging to
support a fun, witty brand personality tailored for young, female consumers.

Trendy
TuesdayA
campaign that went out earlier this week showed an image of a model wearing a Wet Seal outfit and read: “Oh
Em Gee! It’s Trend Tuesday & We Are Doing It BIG Today! Take 50% Off Your
Purchase of $50+ Online.”

The
message included a link to show Wet Seal as well as a way for recipients to
share the offer on social media.

The
program has been running for a couple of months, with every message sent
including images and social sharing.

The goal
is to increase the engagement with Wet Seal’s mobile messaging, something that
Iris Mobile has seen Rich Media Messaging accomplish for other brands.

“It depends
on the offer, but we usually are able to get 35 percent of people to respond to
what the next step is,” Ms. Gupta said.

“If I send
a message with a sweepstakes, the typical response rate for those is about 42
percent, for branded content with offers 35 percent and for straight brand content,
about 22 percent rate,” she said.

“Sales
conversions vary a little depending on the brand we are working with. We have
definitely seen sales conversion upwards of 20 percent.”

Beyond SMSWet Seal
is one of a growing number of merchants who are looking beyond SMS to find ways
to bring more excitement and engagement to their messaging programs.

For
example, specialty retailer Express used Rich Media
Messaging to reward Valentine’s Day shoppers with free movie tickets in
exchange for texting in themed keywords after they shop (see story).

Starbucks
has been taking mobile messaging to new heights by using a combination of SMS
and MMS to engage and surprise customers while also tying into its larger
marketing strategy (see story).

“It is
really difficult to ignore an image – you see the image, you are already know
it is an offer,” Ms. Gupta said. “Whereas if you have to read some text, it
takes a bit longer to comprehend exactly what it is that you have been sent.”